The present invention relates generally to the field of computing, and more particularly to tape storage systems.
A tape drive (i.e., a tape storage system) may be a data storage device that reads and/or writes data onto a magnetic tape. The magnetic tape may be a magnetized coating on a thin plastic strip upon which data is written. Data may be written to a tape drive in one continuous stream. To read data from the tape drive, the tape may be wound past all preceding data on the tape. A read/write head may be a component of a tape drive which is responsible for reading and/or writing data to the tape drive.
A tape drive may confirm the data which has been written to the tape drive by reading the data using a read head placed in line with a write head. In certain circumstances, the user may not desire to check the data within the tape drive, but to read the data back from the tape media to a user system, and at that point compare the data on the tape drive with the original data. This operation may be referred to as a verify operation and may be done by reading back the data from the tape drive to the user system and comparing the data which is read back from the tape drive with the original data.